Furnace



A. w. MACHLET FURNACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20

A. W. MACHLET FURNACE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 jin mar uag/z Z 0% Filed Dec. 20, 1920 Patented Oct. 23, 1923;-

' v urrrzn STATES ADOLPH W. MACHLET, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.,

FURNACE.

Application filed December 20, 1920. Serial No. 431,918.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLPH W. MAoHLE'r, a citizen of the United States, residin in Elizabeth, in the county of Union and tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention relates to bringing steel and other metal rods to incandescence or high heat, for a variety of purposes, such, for example, as forging or annealing, tempering, hardening, etc.

In most cases the rods must be brought to such high heat, that the margin is very slight beyond which they will become overheated. Hence one ofthe difficulties found in attempting to heat rods and the like, is that there is a constant liability to unduly prolonged heating of the rods in an ordinary furnace, so that they are liable to become oxidized and covered with scale, and in some cases to adhere together or even become partly welded together. Moreover, it is difficult to get the rods heated all alike, and

to heat each rod evenly throu hout its length, especially in the case of a ong rod.

Some of the main objects of the invention are to overcome this difliculty, and to provide for bringing rods, tools and other relatively thin, elongated articles to the right heat, while avoiding the danger of overheating; to heat each rod uniformly throughout, and to heat all rods alike; and to supply the heated rods continuously at uniform rate with, but little cost for labor.

In place of piling up the rods and exposing the pile to flames in a furnace, there is provided a muffle to contain the rods, the heating of the mufile being under control and maintained at a certain point, and the heat of the rods not exceeding that of the mufile, within which they are protected from the furnace flames. Even if a rod is allowed to remain in the nruflie overtime, it does not thereby become unduly heated, since in no case can it become hotter than the muflle, as the flames do not touch the rod. The muflie is provided with a multiplicity of chambers,-and each chamber-may be of a size to contain only one rod. No oxidation or scaling occurs. Preferably each chamber almost fits the rod; the chambers being in the form of cylindrical holes formed side by side, the muflie having the form of a barrel,.and the holes extending lengthwise of the barrel andbeing arranged around its periphery; the arrangement resembling that of a magazine, The barrel or muffle may be mounted for revolution, so

that the furnace flames may play evenly over its periphery whereby it becomes evenly heated and readily maintained at the required heat.

In using the apparatus, the mufiie is heated and loaded with rods, and as soon as they are heated they are withdrawn endwise, one by one, from the successive chambers, and replaced by cold rods. The movement of the mufile may be so timed that each rod remains in the muflle just long enough to be brought to the required heat during a single revolution of the mufile. The muflle is preferably stopped to permit each rod to be discharged and a cold rod to be inserted; and hence the number of the chambers and the speed of the drum and the duration of the stops are made such that a complete revolution of the drum consumes the proper length of time for bringing a cold rod up to the required heat.

The nruflle approximately fil s, the flame chamber of the furnace, and the end walls of the furnace may have orifices therein for the discharge of the rods from the chambers, which have open ends; a poker or discharging-device being pushed through an orifice to engage and force the heated rod out of the chamber through a discharge orifice in the other end wall of the furnace. It will be understood that the mufiie is caused to stop at the proper stations so that the orifices in the end walls of the furnace will register at each stop with a chamber in the mufiie. One of the end walls mayalso be provided with another orifice, for the introduction of a cold rod into the chamber invention conduces to economy, as the waste of heat is negligible, and the apparatus can be run day and night, if desired. There is nothing that has to be reheated, thus effecting a further substantial economy. The only part by which the work is carriedis a device that. always remains within the fur nace and therefore has no opportunity to cool off, and does not require reheating.

Although the work chambers have open ends still the flames need not play upon the ends of the muflle, but only around the body thereof, and in practice no'harm results from. the exposed condition of the ends of the rods. The rods may be somewhat shorter than the muflie, and hence may lie entirely within the work chambers and the ends need not be unduly exposed to heat. Moreover, the ends of the mufiie may be near the end walls of the furnace, to minimize the play of hot gases past the ends of the muflle.

The muflie is given a step to step rotation by suitable power-driven means, and all the rods become heated alike, each one being evenly heated throughout its length.

The rods may be fed to and delivered in clean condition from the furnace rapidly, easily .and continuously, at a uniform predetermined speed, and evenly heated to the required point but without liability of overheating, oxidation, scaling, welding, or. sticking together. The heat of the furnace is kept at the required point automatically by means of the well-known Machlet heatcontroller, or otherwise, sothat the muflie is always kept at the proper heat.

The mufile is made of nichrome, although the invention is not limited to this particular refractory material. The nichrome muffle is readily brought to the required heat,

in length. .To overcome the difliculty of.

making the small holes of such great length, the muflie is preferably built up of nichrome sections, each section consisting of a rim or annulus, or a short cylindrical body, in which is formed a series of perforations, in its peripheral portion. These sections are placed together face to face, to make up the length ofthe muflle, the perforations being then all in line, forming together a circular row of small chambers extending around the muflie.

The mufile may revolve upon a horizontal axis, for heating long rods, as illustrated in the drawings, where the rods are shown as being fed to a pair of forging rolls; but for some purposes the muflle may be otherwise arranged, as for example, in a, vertical position. In case the barrel .is set vertically, a floor or plate may be arranged thereunder,

upon which the ends of the rods or articles may rest. The plate may be provided with .a perforation through which the rods may manual ejection and feeding-in,but is capable, of use with automatic feeding and ejecting devices. I

Other features and advantages will hereinafte'r appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of means for carrying out the present invention in one form.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the rod-receiving end of the apparatus.

Figure 3 is a sectional end elevation of the apparatus. r

The novel muflie is in the form of a barrel designated generally as 10, and mounted upon a power-driven shaft 11, which turns in roller bearings 12 provided in the end of walls 13, 14 of a furnace, which also comprises a" cylindrical body portion 15 resting upon supports 16. The furnace is provided wit-h a thick lining of refractory material, comprising end portions 17, between which extends a hollow cylindrical body portion 18, thereby completing a flame chamber 19, into which project flames from burners 20, which are fed with amixture of compressed air and gas through pipes 21; these burners being arranged horizontally and about tangentially at the top and bottom-of the flamechamber, so that the flames are caused to circulate around the barrel 10. At the top of the furnace there may be provided vents 22, which may be closed by vented plugs 23. The work is shown in the form of rods 24,

the barrel 10 serving as a magazine for a large number of rods, which lie in chambers 25 formed in the barrel, said chambers in the form of holes extending from tip to tip of the barrel and open at their ends. All of the chambers are filled except a few, including the one fromwvhich a heated rod has just been ejected through an orifice in the nature of a tubular horizontal guide 26, projecting from the end wall of the furnace, and extending towards a pair of powerdriven forging rolls 27. The heated rod is ejected by inserting a tool through an orifice 28. located in the opposite end wall. The

barrel is rotated intermittently, stopping with its successive chambers in line with the orifices 28, 26, to permit the heated rods to be discharged. This" movement of the barrelis effected by a. drive pulley 29, having a Geneva pinion 30 to mesh with a Geneva stop wheel 31, which is given one movement to each rotation of the pinion 30. The wheel 31- has a pinion 32, which meshes with a gear 33, fixed to an end of the barrel shaft 11, which projects from the furnace.

Endwise movement of the shaft to the right at Figure 1 is prevented by an adjustable screw stop 34; while movement to the left is prevented by a washer 35, placed between gear. 33 and a boss 36, which carries the bearing rolls. This permits the shaft and barrel to expand slightly toward the left any longer than the time required for bring ing said rod to the required heat.

The nichrome barrel is made of sections 38, which have circular sets of perforations around their peripheries, and these sections are held together by tie-bolts 39. Each section comprises an annulus or rim portion 40, in which the perforations are formed, and a disk or web portion'41, also a hub portion 42; the sections being fitted together at their hubs and also at their rim portions. The right-hand end hub is pinned to the shaft 11 by means of a bolt 43. The right-hand end of each porforation 25 in each section is counterbored or flared out a trifle at 44, to give clearance, so that a rod may be inserted easily and without obstruction from right to left. The disk ortion of each section maybe shouldered (45?. Where the disks join, these shoulders seat in depressions (46) formed in the adjoining disks. It will be obvious that a barrel may be constructed with fewer sections, making it shorter, or with more sections, making it longer.

In operation the furnace is heated. and then the pulley 29 is started, the'barrel is revolved intermittently, and the rods are inserted one by one through the orifice 37 as the barrel stops, and ejected through the orifice 28 as soon as they reach the proper point. The machine ma be kept running continuousl 'day and night, if desired. With the mufile in level or recumbent position, the long, heavy work rodslying therein are sup ported by the mufiie, and do not develop 'a tendency to warp or become deformed when heated. Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the im rovements ma be used without others. I

aving thusescribed my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a furnace, of a multiple-chambered muflle therein mounted for rotation, and power-driven means for effecting automatic step-by-step rotation of said muflie.

2..The combination with a furnace, of a multiple-chambered mufiie therein mounted for rotation, and power-driven means for effecting intermittent rotation of said mufile, said furnace having an orifice, and said inter: mittently rotating means connected to stop said muflie to position the chambers one by one o posite said orifice.

3. mufile in the form of a barrel having work-chambers in its peripheral portion and pnrovided with an axle, in combination with a rnace having a flame chamber provided with ends, said ends provided with orifices, said orifices being in line with each other, and any of the work-chambers being movable into register with said orifices'to permit work to be pushed out of one orifice by means ofa device inserted through the other orifice.

4'. A furnace provided with a flame box 2 containing a muflie having work-chambers which are accessible through the wall of the furnace for introducing and withdrawing work, and means outside of the flame box and extending to'the interior thereof for rotating 5. A furnace provided with a flame box' .having a lining of refractory material and containing a muflie having work-chambers and extending substantially from end to end of the furnace, the ends of the furnacehaving orifices extending through said lining, through which work may be inserted into and withdrawn from. the muffle, and means outside of the flame box and extending to the interior thereof for rotating said mufile step by step, to present the work-chambers in succession to said orifices and detain them there to permit insertion and withdrawal of the work.

6. A furnace rovided with a flame box containing a mu e having a series of workchambcrs and extending substantially from end to end of the furnace, the ends of the furnace having orifices through which work may be inserted into and withdrawn from the muflie, and the mufiie being movable to bring the work-chambers in succession to said orifices.

7. A furnace provided with a flame box containing a muflie extending substantially from end to end of the furnace, the ends of the furnace having orifices through which work may be inserted into and withdrawn from the muflie, the muflie having a series of work-chambers and being movable to bring them in succession to said orifices, said work-chambers being evenly spaced, and power-driven mechanism for imparting suitable step-by-step movements to said muflle.

8. A furnace provided with a flame box containing a muflie having a series of workchambers and extending substantially from end to end of the'furnace, the ends of the furnace having orifices through which work may be inserted into and withdrawn from the muflie, each of said chambers of such. dimensions as to be approximately filled by the rod or work.

9. A furnace provided with a flame box containing a mufile having work-chambers which are accessible through the wall of the furnace for introducing and withdrawing -work, said chambers being open at the ends and arranged in a circle, and said mufile being mounted for revolution.

10. A furnace provided with a flame box containing a muflie having work-chambers which are accessible through the wall of the furnace for introducing and withdrawing work, said chambers being in the form of cylindrical holes in which the work substantially fits and open at the ends and arranged in a circle, and said muffle being mounted for revolution.

11. The combination of a stationary fuel furnace having flame-restraining Walls, and a muflle mounted therein for revolution, whereby the flames of the furnace may heat the mufile evenly throughout, said muffle having a series of work-chambers, said workchambers having end openings, and pro-' vision being made for the introduction or withdrawal of work from the chambers through the flame-retaining walls of the furnace.

12. The combination of a fuel furnace, and a muflle mounted therein for revolution,

whereby the flames of the furnace may heat the muflie evenly throughout, said muflie made up of a series of sections andhaving a series of work-chambers, said chambers in the form of cylindrical holes extending through the sections endwise of the muflle, the holes being arranged in parallelism around the peripheral portions of the sections.

13. The process of evenly and highly heating long rods or attenuated articles, comprising exposing a muflle evenly to the heat of flames in a fuel furnace by rotating the mufile, introducing the cold rods endwise into the muffle at different points,'r'otating the muflie and exposing it to steady heat, permitting the rods to remain in the mufiie until they are brought to the required high heat, arresting the mufileat predeterj mined intervals, and then withdrawing the rods one after another from the mufile while arrested and replacing them by fresh rods while the muflle continues exposed to heat.

14. The combination of a stationary fuel furnace havin a flame chamber, a muflie mounted in sa1d chamber for revolution to cause the flames of the furnace to heat the muffle evenly throughout, said muflie having a series of work-chambers, and means to effect automatically step-by-step rotation of the mufile in a manner to complete a single revolution of the mufile in about the time required for heating a cold rod to the required high heat.

15. The combination of a stationary fuel furnace having a flame chamber, and a muffle mounted in said chamber for revolution to cause the flames to heat the muflie evenly throughout, said muflle having a series of work-chambers, said mufile approximately filling said flame chamber from end to end, and the furnace having flame-confining walls provided with perforations for the introduction and withdrawal of work therethrough into the mufiie.

16. The process of evenly and uniformly bringing rods or attenuated articles to a predetermined degree of high heat, comprising exposing a muflie to regulated heat of flames, introducing the rods in cumbent positions to the muflle and keeping the rods separated from one another and rotating the muflle to expose it evenly to the regulated heat, and forcing out the heated rods seriatim from the muflle at one end by means of a discharging device passing into the other end of the mufiie.

17. A furnace provided with a flame-box containing a muffle having work-chambers and extending substantially from end to end of the furnace, the ends of the furnace having orifices through which work may be inserted into and withdrawn from the muflie, a Geneva-gear mechanism being connected to said muflie to impart equal move-' ments thereto for bringing the mufile chambers one after another into register with the work-feeding orifices in the furnace.

18. A furnace provided with a flame-box containing a muflie having work-chambers which are accessible through the wall'of the furnace for introducing and withdrawing work, said furnace having a plurality of orifices in one wall, one for introducing the work into the muflie and the other permitting introduction through the furnace wall of a dischar ing rod or tool.

19. A mu e in the form of a barrel having work-chambers in its peripheral portion and provided with an axle, said mufile built up of cylindrical sections, each having a set of perforations to form portions of the work-chambers.

20. A muflie in the form of a barrel having work-chambers in its peripheral portion and provided with an axle, said mufile built up of cylindrical sections,'each having a set of perforations to form portionsof the work-chambers, each section comprising a rim or annulus containing the perforations, and a hub portion to support the annulus; said sections placed face to face to form relatively long muflle.

21. A mufiie in the form ofa barrel having work-chambers in its peripheral portion and provided with an axle, said muflle built u of cylindrical sections, each having a set 0 perforations to form portions of the work-chambers, each section comprising a rim or annulus containing the perforations, and a hub portion to support the annulus; said sections placed face to face to form a relatively long muffle, and tie-bolts to fasten the sections together.

22. The process of heating rods uniformly and evenly, consisting in heating a mufile by flames and maintaining even exposure of the muflie by rotation thereof to a predetermined regulated heat while inserting the cold rods into and withdrawing the heated rods endwise from open-ended "work-chambers in the muflle.

23. The combination of a furnace in the form of a hollow cylindrical body portion of refractory material, end portions of refractory material, said portions forming a flamebox, burners opening within said box, a barrel within said flame-box and mounted for revolution, and work-chambers extending from end to end of the barrel in its peripheral portion and having open ends, openings being provided in the ends of the furnace for access'to the work-chambers.

24. The combination of a stationary fuel furnace, a revoluble muflle therein having a plurality of work-chambers, said furnace having an opening to afford access to the work-chambers, and a power-driven means including a Geneva-lock movement connected to said muflle to imparta step-by-step rotation to the muflle.

'25. Amuflle made of sections placed face to face to make up the length of the muflle, each section having holes to correspond to the other sections and to combine therewith to form work-chambers extending the length of the muflie.

26. A mufiie made of sections placed face to face to make up the length of the mufiie, each section having holes to correspond to the other sections and to combine therewith to form work-chambers extending the length of the mufiie, andtie-rods holding said sections together.

27. A mufile made of sections placed face to face to make up the length of the mufiie, each section having holes to correspond to the other sections and to combine therewith to form work-chambers extending the length of the muflle, and tie-rods holding said sections together, the holes in each section being flared or counter-bored for the purpose specified. i

28. A muflle made of sections placed face to face to make up the length of the muflie, each section havingholes to correspond to the other sections and to combine therewith to form work-chambers extending the length of the muffle, and a furnace in which said muflle is mounted for revolution, said furnace having openings to chambers in the muflle.

29. A mufiie section comprising a hub portion of nichrome, and a rim portion'supported thereon and integral therewith, said rim portion having a circle of holes to co- 0 rate with similar sections to form comp ete continuous work-chambers.

, 30. In combination, a fuel furnace having a flame chamber, a cast nichrome muflie device mounted for revolution and having a series of open-ended work-chambers cast therein.

31. In combination, a stationary fuel furnace having a flame chamber, a nichrome muflle mounted for revolution in said chamber, and having a series of open-ended workchambers cast therein, said flame chamber having walls provided with openin through which'access may be had to said work-chambers.

32. A mufile made of sections placed face to face to make up the length of the muflie,

each section having holes' to correspond to the other section and to combine therewith to form work-chambers extending the length ofthe muflie, each section having a shoulgive access to the dered portion to fit into a depression formed in an adjoining section.

33. In combination, a fuel furnace havin a flame box provided with refractory limng, a muflle mounted within said box and having a succession of work-chambers, said mufle being in a recumbent position so as to carry the weiggit of the work, and opposite holes in the on of the flame box through one of which holes a tool may be inserted {o lpush the work out through the'opposite 34. In combination, a fuel furnace having a flame box provided with refracto lining, a mufile mounted within said box an havitriiig a succession of work-chambers, said mu e being in a recumbent position so as to carry the weight of the work, opposite holes in the ends of the flame box through one of which holes a tool may be inserted to push the work out through the opposite hole, and means external to the furnace and extending to said muflle to impart ste -by-step rotation thereto to arrest its wor -chambers in succession to register with said holes.

35. In combination, a fuel furnace having a flame box provided with refractory lining,

a muflie mounted within said box and having a succession of work-chambers, said mufile being in a recumbent position so as to carry the weight of the work, opposite holes in the ends of the flame box through one of which holes a tool may be inserted to push the work out through the opposite hole, and means external to the furnace and extending to said muflle to impart step-by-step rotation thereto to arrest its work-chambers in suc- 10 cession to register with said holes, one of said ends having an additional hole for the insertion of work.

ADOLPH W. MACHLE'I".

Witnesses PHILIP C. OSTERMAN, SAMUEL R. OGDEN. 

